[robin_mds_nurse]

A resident at the LTC center that I work at was sent to the hospital several days ago. The nurse that usually cares for her was worried about her, and called the hospital to check on her. The nurse she spoke to referred the nurse to the family, because she said it would violate HIPPA to give out the resident's medical info. I called back over, and told them that it is not violating HIPPA because she is still our resident. They have to give us report when they are coming back anyway. We have had this problem a couple of other times. Has anyone had any similiar problems? I think some hospital nurses are going overboard on HIPPPA (JMHO) ~Robin

[ER-RN2]

When I worked the floors, we would have many patients from nursing homes. We weren't allowed to give anyone any information on the phone. How were we suppose to know if the caller was really from the nursing home? We always told them to follow up with the patient's family. Some hospitals even have special codes when trying to obtain information on the patient. If that person has the code, then some information was given, otherwise nothing....

[donmomofnine]

We are electronically hooked up with our local hospital. Our admissions coordinator can access any of the medical records for our residents via the computer and it's HIPAA compliant and we get the info that we need. It is working quite well.

[BittyBabyGrower]

When we transport, we have to have a specific name of a nurse from the referring hospital so that they can call and get info.

Even if a doctor from another hospital calls, we have to take his/her name and number and call back.

[jkaee]

I tend to agree with the OP....when one of our residents is admitted to the hospital, we have a hard time getting any info from the hospital. One time, my ADON called after the resident was admitted back to us to try to get the results from a lab that was drawn at the hospital, but was never sent to us (it was either a CXR or a culture of some kind, so it was important for us to know the results). The hospital stated that they couldn't give us that info because of HIPPA........HELLO, we are the resident's healthcare team, you are allowed to give us that info! Another time we called because a resident was supposed to be sent back to us, and hadn't shown up yet. Once again, when we called to see if they were still going to be discharged, we weren't given any info because of HIPPA. I think it's completely ridiculous the hoops we have to jump thru just to get info. I'm all for privacy and I think parts of HIPPA are a good thing, but it goes way too far. The thing that drives me nuts is that a resident can have a visitor that comes in frequently to see them, but we can't give them any info because they aren't the POA.......yet the POA is never seen or heard from.

Just my rant!

[Chaya]

Yeah, we are a sub-acute rehab facility. We have one local hospital in particular that often sends us over a patient without a discharge summary- then we call them for the patient they sent us with NO ADMITTING INFO and they tell us "Sorry- can't send any info on that pt unless you fax us their consent form!" One of these days they're going to get one of these patients right back, until they can send us the info.

[Audreyfay]

You can thank Ted Kennedy for the HIPPA ordeal we are now living.

[mercyteapot]

I work with thirteen different hospitals in the course of my job, and every single one of them interprets HIPAA differently. Some of the hospitals claim that *parents* can't give out their child's information! Typical bureaucracy!

[Dixiedi]

Hospitals can't give home care nurses any info either. Even if you are the nurse who took the pt to the hospital!
Has to be family.
We usually call the family for an update. It gets crazy trying to make sure your pt is covered on the first day home while tring to ensure you have all the hours you need for the pay period.
HIPPA, like all the other pushed through regulations cause as many or more problems than they solved. I will add though that the problems they solve are sometimes far greater than the ones they cause. But... still full of ruts deep enough to loose a VW in.

[robin_mds_nurse]

Originally Posted by donmomofnine

We are electronically hooked up with our local hospital. Our admissions coordinator can access any of the medical records for our residents via the computer and it's HIPAA compliant and we get the info that we need. It is working quite well.

That would be awesome to be connected to the hospital, and get the medical records electronically. I work in a rural community (1 horse town with 2 hospitals), and I don't forsee us being that high tech anytime soon. My sister works in the medical records department where I work. She is having a horrible time getting discharge summaries from one of the hospitals. Thanks so much for your input!